January 2022

11 Buckden Roundabout January 2022 Wildlife in Buckden Buckden Neighbourhood Watch RICHARD WEST Village Coordinator 01480 811467 / 07841 866630 To contact the police: 999 in an emergency; 0800 555 111 Crime Stoppers; 0300 123 2040 Action Fraud. EMAIL burglarycrackdown@cambs.pnn.police.uk or visit www.crimestoppers.uk.org or you can telephone 101 Suspicions or concerns can be reported via the police force ’ s online web chat function here https://bit.ly/3tfssQF Or via the online reporting forms here https://bit.ly/3ck9z85 Wild geese are rare in Buckden, although we have a good pop- ulation of feral Greylag Geese, a few Egyptian Geese at the marina and Canada Geese. Last winter, I saw a flock of Russian White - fronted Geese using the field east of Greenway and north of Mill Road, though, so it ’ s always worth checking through the flocks. The sewage works is perhaps an unlikely “ Key Wildlife site ” in our Neighbourhood Plan, but it has some important trees and scrub around it and provides a winter home for Chiffchaffs that decide to winter here rather than Africa, with, sometimes, a Siberian Chiffchaff with them. Wading birds also winter in the Parish. Woodcocks lurk unseen by day in scrub and woodland and fly out at dusk to feed in fields and by streams. Snipe like marshy ground to probe with their long beaks and on the fields, Lapwings gather in num- bers, sometimes joined by Golden Plov- ers. See how many of these winter visitors you can see over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed, we are visited by Wax- wings again as we were in my first year of living in Buckden some 10 years ago. This beautiful Scandinavian visitor is most definitely due a reappearance! Mark Ward is the RSPB ’ s Head of Sup- porter Experience and a nature writer. He has lived in Buckden for 10 years and Cambridgeshire all his life. You can share your wildlife records with him by emailing him at goldenbins@hotmail.co.uk (The photos in this and other articles can be seen in colour in the on - line edition of the magazine at: www.buckdenroundabout.info/editions/ Jan2022/index.html ) (Continued from page 10) Northern lapwing—photo Andreas Trepte Common snipe Waxwing—photo Randen Pederson